Kingdoms
by Whip-Owl
Summary: If there's a Northern, Southern, and Middle Kingdom in Ga'Hoole, does that mean there was ever an Eastern and Western? Was Lutta the only cross between a hagfiend and an owl? And where did the seed for the Ga'Hoole tree come from? In this story, the answers are yes, no, and that can't be answered in 1 word.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I don't own Ga'Hoole. Review please.)

Rose flew along the trees near the Sea, the end of the Eastern Kingdom. She had a bag full of seeds, but not just any seeds. They were the seeds of the Ga trees. The Ga trees were extremely rare, they were only found in the Eastern Kingdom, and even there they weren't particularly common. The trees were mostly in the center of the Kingdom, that's why the center of the kingdom was called Ga forest. Rose was on mission to spread the Ga trees out. She was supposed to plant them on the border of the Kingdom.

Rose flew down to the forest floor. This part of the forest was mostly pine trees. She walked a little before finding a sunny spot. There she began digging. It was hard work. _Why didn't I bring a burrowing owl? _Rose wondered. _They're so much better at this than me._

She stopped digging a little while later, it was deep enough. Rose placed one of the seeds in and shoveled the dirt back on. That was when another owl landed down next to her. Thanks to silent flight she didn't hear him until he spoke. "Hi Rose!"

Rose gave a little cry a whirled around. She relaxed almost instantly. It was her brother. "Hello Courage." She greeted. "How was your night?" She smiled.

"Great! Did you know the Northern Kingdoms, and the Western Kingdoms, are still fighting?" Courage wanted to know.

Rose sighed softly, though Courage could probably still hear her. Courage was one of the messengers of the Eastern Kingdoms, and as of such he spent a lot of time in the other Kingdoms. Rose was more interested in Ga'Hoology.

"Those two are always fighting." Rose pointed out. "What about the Southern Kingdom?"

Courage drooped. "The Southern Kingdom is _boring_. They're kind of peaceful like us, but they live separately, so nothing _ever _happens."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Does anything happen here really?"

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

Both owls turned towards the call. Then they turned to each other. "Apparently." Courage answered.

The two ran over to where the cries were coming from. There was a pygmy standing over a black lump of feathers. Rose felt her gizzard drop a little when she realized the lump was another owl. "What happened?" She asked, stepping forward.

The pygmy turned towards the pair. "We were in the Northern Kingdoms and we got attacked and," She paused and gave a confused look. "Are you pink?"

"Most Madagascar grass owls are." Rose said with a sigh. "Now what about your friend?"

"He's hurt. Please help, he could die!" The pygmy exclaimed.

"He's so big." Courage said. "I don't know if we'll be able to lift him."

"You're one of the fastest owls in the Kingdom." Rose reminded him. "Go get help!"

"Oh right." Courage breathed. He flapped back into the air and headed towards the Ga Forest, the best place to find owls.

"What's wrong with him?" Rose asked, turning back to the pygmy.

She lifted the owl's wing to reveal blood coming from his side. Rose grimaced. "Come on." She told the pygmy. "Let's try to stop the blood."

(Yeah my chapters are short, it's a hard habit to break. This is actually a long chapter compared to my last Ga'Hoole story. And I know owls don't raise their eyebrows. If you have an owl equivalent let me know. Madagascar owls exist too, I might be exaggerating their color but in my big book of owls it shows them as fairly pink.)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A group of owls hovered around. "Is that a hagsfiend?" One of them breathed.

"Of course not!" Another one snapped. "Hagsfiends don't have ear tufts and facial disks." If they were going to argue like this Rose was very glad she and the pygmy had already patched him up a bit.

"He's not a hagfiend!" The pygmy shouted. "Now someone help him!"

"I agree." The owls around the three parted to let a white chinned owl through. Rose recognized him as Adan, the king of the Eastern Kingdom. "Help this poor owl." A few owls set to work healing him better than Rose and the pygmy could.

The pygmy and Rose stepped to the side. Rose went to join Courage. The pygmy started to follow them but was stopped by Adan. Rose and Courage tipped their heads to hear what was going on, they were a type of tyto after all.

"Who are you two?" Adan asked in a low voice.

"I'm Pylphie, and that's Hagson. We come from the Northern Kingdom." The pygmy whimpered.

Adan nodded slowly. "I see. . . And what kind of owl is Hagson?"

"L-long eared."

Adan turned to Hagson, who was groaning a little, but Rose could hear his heart beat was getting stronger. "He's a little big for a long eared isn't he?"

"He's not a hagsfiend!"

Adan put his wings up in a mock surrender. "I never said he was, but I'd like to take him to my hollow if that's alright with you." Pylphie looked skeptical. "I promise I won't hurt him, and as soon as I talk to him he can go. That's a more generous offer than you'll get from some of these owls." He jerked his head towards the first owl who'd asked if Hagson was a hagsfiend.

Pylphie sighed. "Fine."

"Courage! Rose! Speckle!" Adan called out. The two siblings and the black and white owl turned towards Adan. "Help me take Hagson back to my hollow. Hetty?"

"Yes your majesty?" Hetty responded.

"Do you have something to carry this owl away with?"

She gave him a look as if to say 'Owl?' then shoved a cot made of vines forward.

Adan nodded. "Good." He, Courage, Rose, and Speckle, each grabbed a corner once Hagson was on, and the four flew back towards Ga forest.

"Don't forget to return my cot." Hetty said. Then she flew off; as a flammulated owl, she was too small to help.

The owls flew into Ga Forest. Almost every tree here was a Ga tree, and most of them were connected by vine bridges so owls could cross from one tree to another without having to fly, this was particularly useful for owlets.

A few owls turned towards the group as the came in, and once they landed at Adan's hollow an Pel's fishing owl came up to him. "What kind of creature is that?" He wanted to know.

"It is of no concern to you." Adan replied coolly. "I'll tell you if it's important." The fishing owl nodded to him and took off. Adan turned to Courage, Hetty, Rose, and Pylphie. Even though Pylphie hadn't been able to help carry Hagson, she had stayed close. "Thank you all for your help, but I have to ask you leave now." He said. Then he took Hagson into his hollow.

(Alright, I might as well explain something. I'm picking owl species that are never mentioned in Ga'Hoole, or at least are very rare, for the types in the Eastern and Western Kingdoms. It's because these are Kingdoms never mentioned before too.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hagson groaned. He tried to figure out what was happening. The last thing he had a strong memory of was being attacked by hagsfiends, but there were other things he _thought _had happened; like the pink owls who'd saved him, and the owls arguing about if he was a hagsfiend. There was a thought that made him feel like he was going to yarp, and not in the natural way.

Then he realized the ground was awfully soft. He opened his eyes. He was sitting in a nest, in a _tree_. There weren't too many of those in the Northern Kingdoms. _The Eastern Kingdom. _Hagson thought. He Pylphie had been trying to find the Eastern Kingdom, it looked they'd succseded.

Once he established that, it became painfully obvious he wasn't alone in the hollow. He lifted his head to see an owl smaller than him, there weren't many who were bigger, standing by the enterance. "So you are awake." The owl said, turning towards him.

"Who are you?" Hagson croaked.

"I'm Adan, white chinned owl and king of the Eastern Kingdom. And you are Hagson, and the pygmy is Pylphie, am I right?"

Hagson started to nod, then he gasped. "Pylphie! Where is she?"

Adan chuckled. "Don't worry she's fine. I have her staying with Courage and Rose, the owls who saved you."

"The pink ones?" Hagson wanted to know.

Adan gave a low laugh again. "Yes. An unusual type of owl I'll admit, but you're one to talk about that."

Hagson gave a little gulp and felt his gizzard shift. He probably would've felt it do more than that, but his gizzard was weaker than most owls. It occurred to him even though he had the shape of a long eared owl, he had the size and feathers of a hagsfiend. And now that his eyes were open Adan could probably see the hagsfiend glow inside them.

"What kind of an owl are you?" Adan asked.

"A long eared owl." Hagson said firmly.

Adan sighed. "That's what Pylphie told me, but would you be surprised if I told you I didn't believe her?"

Hagson glared at him for a moment, then looked away. "No." He resigned.

"So what are you?" Adan pushed. He glared at him. "I told Pylphie I was only going to talk to you." Adan stepped closer to him, feathers raising a bit in frustration. "But if you're going to be this difficult I will have to keep you here. I'm not going to endanger this Kingdom."

"I'm not a danger to the Kingdom!" Hagson hissed. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I wasn't lying, and neither was Pylphie. My dad was a long eared owl, but . . . my mom was a hagsfiend."

Adan's eyes widened. "You're a half." He breathed. Hagson nodded. Adan's gaze hardened. "What are you doing here?"

Hagson made a noise that could only be described as a growl. "I'm not doing anything! The hagsfiends were angry I wouldn't help destroy owls, so they tried to kill me. Pylphie and I came here to escape all that!"

Adan didn't believe it. Hagson could see it in his eyes. Then, to Hagson's surprise, he nodded. "Fine. But we need someone to keep an eye on you."

"Who?" Hagson wanted to know.

"Who else? Courage and Rose."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rose smiled listening to Pylphie. Apparently she'd lived on an island in the middle of the Bitter Sea, with a group of peaceful owls. "There's lots of talent there. Writers, singers." Pylphie explained.

"Anyone in Ga'Hoology?" Rose asked.

"Ga'Hoology?"

It occurred to Rose that since the Eastern Kingdom was the only one with Ga trees, they were the only ones with Ga'Hoology. "Oh, we care for the trees and plant new ones." Rose explained.

Pylphie concentrated. "Well in that case, sort of. But that's not usually _all _they do."

"What about messengers like me?" Courage wanted to know; he placed his wing on his chest to bring his importance out.

Pylphie giggled at his over acting. "Sorry Courage, we want to keep ourselves in secret, otherwise we might get dragged into the war. A few owls have come here, that's how I knew about it, but I wouldn't say anyone's like you."

"Well of course. I'm the best messanger there is." Courage bragged.

Pylphie looked at him as if trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. This time it was Rose's turn to laugh.

That's when Adan and Hagson walked in. Rose stopped laughing and started wilfing. Hagson was much more intimidating when he was awake.

"Hagson!" Pylphie cried eagerly, standing up straighter. Hagson turned towards her and gave a small smile.

Adan nodded to them all. "Hello everyone. You all know who Hagson is." The three nodded, Pylphie the most eager. "I've decided he and Pylphie can stay here," Hagson bristled a little. "But I want someone to watch him." He gave a slight glare at Hagson, but it passed so quickly Rose might have imagined it. "Rose, Courage, you two are in charge of that. Teach Hagson how things work here, and make sure he stays out of trouble." Adan turned and walked for the exit.

The siblings looked at each other. "Adan wait!" Rose called out. Adan turned his head around and looked at her questioningly. "Why do you want someone to watch Hagson?"

Hagson shook his head and looked at Adan desperately. Adan ignored his reaction. "Because, Hagson is half hagsfiend." With that he flew out of the hollow.

Rose's beak fell open. She heard Courage shout something along the lines of 'cool', and Hagson stammering some sort of apology out, but Rose was having too hard of a time processing all this to pick up exactly what they were saying.

She turned around. "I hate to be rude." She said. "But I think I have to yarp." Then she stepped out of the hollow to yarp, because now she really did need to.

(Sorry this chapter is short, even compared to just the rest of this story.)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The four owls in Rose and Courage's hollow sat around as the sun set, sharing a rabbit and mouse. Rose had put a juice on top of the rabbit.

"Mmm, this is good." Hagson complimented on the juice. "What is it?"

Rose crouched a little lower. After making it through the day without Hagson trying to kill them, or brainwash them, Rose had relaxed a little, but he still made her nervous. "I picked some of the berries from the Ga trees. They taste pretty good, and they make good drinks if you put in the work too." She explained rapidly.

Hagson turned towards the berries dangling outside. "Never would've guessed." He said. He turned back to his food.

After a moment of silence Pylphie cleared her throat. "So, what did Adan mean when he said 'how things work here'?"

"Well you see, everyone who lives in Ga Forest has to have a specific job." Rose explained.

"I'm a messenger!" Courage added. After a pause, and a glance at his sister, he continued. "And my sister's in Ga'Hoology."

"There's navigation too." Rose said. "And hunting, healing."

"So . . . we have to get a job?" Pylphie summed up. Rose and Courage nodded. "Which one?"

"You . . . can pick." Rose told her.

She grinned and turned to Hagson. He returned the smile for her. "Great!" Pylphie exclaimed. "Can you show us around to these jobs."

Rose turned towards Courage, but he wasn't looking at her. "Sure!" He agreed. "Come on, let's go see Speckle." He started towards the exit. He paused and turned around. "He's in charge of hunting." He explained.

The other three followed the eager Madagascar owl out. They flew across a clearing, surrounded by Ga trees with a lake in the middle. Hagson gave a panicked look at the water, but it was gone once they landed next to Speckle's hollow.

"Hey Speckle!" Courage called in. "Want to teach Pylphie and Hagson about hunting?"

"I know how to hunt." Hagson mumbled.

Speckle came out and gave Hagson a hard look. "I'd rather not, not with a hagowl."

Hagson gave a gasp. "How did you know about that?!" He hissed.

Speckle rolled his eyes. "Adan told all the chaw leaders."

"Chaw?" Pylphie questioned.

"Chaw. There's a hunting chaw, Ga'Hoology chaw. They're the jobs. And as leaders of those, Adan didn't want to leave us in the dark."

Hagson sighed and stared at the sky. "Fair enough." He mumbled.

"And it's fair enough I should teach you." Speckle admitted. He spread his wings and leapt into the air. He turned to face the other owls. "Well, you coming?"

Rose smiled. She leapt into the air, followed by Courage, Pylphie, and Hagson. Speckle flew across the water, dropping a little lower as he passed the lake. Hagson's panicked expression returned. "We're not going to hunt in the water are we?"

"I was planning to. Why?" Speckle responded. Hagson just gave a pained expression. "Water kills hagsfiends. Right." Speckle gave the owl equivalent of an eye roll.

Rose frowned. Hagson scared her, but she was starting to feel bad for him. His life wasn't easy.

Speckle carried on. "Well you probably won't end up being a hunter. Most of the Eastern Kingdom is wet." That was true enough. There were so many lakes and rivers it was like the different parts of the kingdom were like, but not exactly, islands. "I'll try to find a dry place for today though." With that, he lead them away from the center of Ga Forest.

(So I hate to ask this since it always seems like I'm being whinny, but if someone reviewed, it would be nice. . .)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

(Have I mentioned this story isn't going to have a particularly happy ending? It does. That seemed kind of obvious, but just in case.)

"See here, these are the seeds of the Ga tree." Rose explained.

She held out a seed for Courage, Hagson, and Pylphie. Actually it was mostly for Hagson and Pylphie. Courage was staring up at the sky, not bothering to hide his boredom. Rose and Courage had already established they just weren't interested in each other's chaws, it didn't mean they had to separate themselves, they were siblings after all.

Rose continued. "They're very rare; it's why we always have to make sure some of the seeds end up being planted in Ga Forest, where we know they grow. Luckily, the trees are also really hard to destroy, so we've managed to collect enough extra seeds to try planting in other parts of the Kingdom."

"And it takes _forever_." Courage groaned.

"It's not all we do." Rose snapped.

"Uh . . . what else do you do?" Pylphie asked.

Rose looked at her like she was crazy. "We make the vine bridges, we pick the berries, we bury pellets to help the tree growth, we know how to trim the trees and investigate when they get sick. The list never ends."

Pylphie blinked. "Apparently not."

Courage started chuckling. Hagson sighed. "So, what are we supposed to do for the rest of the night?" It was true. Rose had agreed to teach them about her chaw that night, but they'd started right after the first meal of the night, and now there was plenty of time left.

"We could try planting more Ga seeds." Rose offered.

"No please don't." Courage begged. "That is so boring."

"Courage, Rose is going to have to follow you around all night tomorrow." Pylphie reminded him.

Courage sighed in fairly easy defeat. "Fine."

Rose smiled. "Alright. Let's go get the seeds." She took a running jump into the air. The group headed back to the hollow.

Rose looked around. "W-where is it?" She wondered. They didn't have many things in their hollow, so if Rose couldn't find something odds were it wasn't in the tree.

"Where's what?" Hagson asked.

"My bag of Ga seeds!" Rose snapped. She started panicking. "Those took years to collect, my family started before I was even born. And now they're gone. They can't be gone."

"Rose?" Pylphie tried to get her attention. Rose turned around. "Didn't you have a bag with you when you came to help us?"

Rose hit her head lightly with her wing. _I can't believe I forgot that. _She thought. "You're right. I couldn't carry while I was helping Hagson."

"Sorry." Hagson muttered, hunching his head closer to his shoulders.

Rose turned to him and looked at him like he was crazy. "Those seeds were important, but I'd rather save an owl than them."

Hagson smiled gratefully and his yellow eyes flashed. They were a flash of appreciation, but Rose saw the hagsfiend in them. She forced herself not to react. _Just change the subject. _"Okay. Now let's go find those seeds!" She flew out of the hollow.

"We're doing a lot of flying for an expert in Ga'Hoology." Courage muttered as they followed her.

Rose just smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Alright! It's the big night!" Courage exclaimed.

Rose groaned as she woke up.

"We're going to the other Kingdoms?" Hagson asked.

Courage nodded. "Well, not all of them." Courage said. "I'm fast, but not fast enough to get all of them in one night. Since you guys have lived in the Northern Kingdom, I guess we'll skip that one."

Rose noticed the relief Hagson quickly hid in his eyes.

Courage apparently didn't. "Now let's hurry. We've got a lot to do." He leapt out of the tree.

Rose sighed as she followed him. It was twilight, but closer to day than night right about now. Courage always had to wake up so early. Rose had to give him credit, his job involved a lot of risk, something she couldn't do.

The owls cut across part of the Sea of S'yrthgar to get to the Southern Kingdoms, it was the fastest way to get there. Rose made a face at the ground below them. "Where are we?" She asked.

"A place called the Beaks." Courage answered. "There's a forest we could go to, but I'd advise against it."

"Why?" Hagson wanted to know.

Courage let out a 'poof' of air. "Well you two wouldn't know about this, but Rose, remember when I was gone so long a search party had to go out and drag me back."

Rose cringed and nodded. Courage hadn't been himself when he got back, and he wasn't for a while.

"Well, that's because I was in that forest." Courage wilfed a little in embarrassment. "It was very . . . addicting."

"So we shouldn't go there." Pylphie agreed. "What do we do?"

"We get something to eat, we watch for anything interesting to tell Adan, but this is the Southern Kingdom, so we probably won't find anything. Then we head for the Western Kingdom."

Pylphie let her exhaustion show then. "You have a busy day."

Courage nodded. "I know. Isn't it great?!"

The other owls exchanged looks. "Let's hunt." Pylphie said.

The four of them split up. There wasn't much food around here, and unknown to Rose she found herself drifting into the Barrens before she found anything. But it paid off, she was the second owl back, the first being Hagson.

She landed down next to him hesitantly. "Hi." She greeted.

"Hey." Hagson replied. He held up his catch. "Rabbit?"

Rose shook her head, looking away slightly. She started eating her mouse.

"I know you're afraid of me."

Rose blinked and turned slightly towards Hagson. "Come again?"

"You're afraid of me, I can' see you trying to hide it, but I know you are."

"Can you blame me?"

Hagson's eyes flashed hagsfiend yellow again, and this time it was out of anger. That was considerably more danger. Then he turned around. "No." He hissed. His voice slowly returned to normal. "I just thought I'd let you know. And you can stop pretending, it's kind of pathetic."

Before Rose could comment on that, Courage and Pylphie returned. "Hi there." Courage greeted. "What'd we miss?"

Rose shrugged. "Not much."

Courage nodded. "Then let's roll." And with that, the owls gulped down what was left of their food, and headed for the Western Kingdom.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

If any owls wanted to find out about Others, the Western Kingdom was the place to go. It was entirely composed of old Other places. The whole place was called a city if Rose recalled correctly. Of course everything here had become so over grown in plants it was hard to tell what the place looked like. They probably wouldn't have believed even if they'd known.

"This place it kind of creepy." Pylphie admitted as they landed on the roof of a building, using the ivy to stay in place.

"I know right?" Courage agreed, not at all phased by creepy. "In fact, some say the scrooms live here. I mean, I know scrooms are dead so they can't technically live anywhere. What I meant was,"

"We know what you meant!" Hagson interrupted impatiently.

"Shh!" Courage hushed him urgently. "The owls of Shadow own this place."

"Shadow?" Pylphie asked.

"They're the ones typically thought of as the bad guys in Western Kingdom's battles." Courage explained silently. "They're called that because it's their leader's name, and the last time they found me here they tried to kill me."

Rose's eye grew rounder than they already where and she stepped back. "And you're just telling us this now!" She hissed under her breath.

"You wouldn't have come if I'd told you." Courage pointed out.

"Right, well we've come, now we can go." Rose said.

"No you can't." The owls turned around to see a much larger group of owls flying above of them. "Because you are trespassers."

"Sprink." Rose breathed. Then the owls dove down from the sky. The four leapt off the roof heading in different directions. Rose dove dangerously close the ground before pulling up, an attempt to slow down anyone who wanted to chase her.

Overall it worked, but since there were more evil owls than of them, two more just swooped down for Rose. She pulled up and tried to fly away, but her turn was to flow at her current speed. One of the owls slammed into her. Rose let out an 'oof' sound and was flung backwards. She went right through a shattered window. The owl who'd attacked her tried to follow, but he was bigger than her. His wings got snagged by the glass as he flew the window.

The owl let out a scream as he smashed down, his wings bleeding. The glare in his eyes made it clear he was still planning to attack her though. Rose glanced around. A lot of the glass that was missing from the window sat on the floor near her. Thinking fast, Rose grabbed a piece of glass in each talon, spreading her wings so she didn't have to stand. She held the glass shards up to the owl's neck.

His eyes changed from anger to fear and he stopped moving towards her. For a moment the two just stayed there, having a stare down.

Then another owl came through. They were much smarter than the first, folding their wings up to fit. He swung a talon out at Rose's wing. Rose flapped back, dodging. He came at her again. Rose didn't want to kill anyone, so she flung the glass at his talon, his main weapon. The owl foolishly tried to grab the glass, all that got him was a bleeding talon.

Then he did something she hadn't counted on. He moved the piece of glass into his other talon and flung it back at her. Only he didn't aim for her talon, he aimed for her head.

Rose dropped back to the ground. She was pretty sure the glass had knocked some feathers off, but it was better than the death she had narrowly avoided. Rose flung her other piece of glass. She missed his other talon.

The owl dove into her, knocking her down, and began to try clawing her neck. She picked up another piece of glass and slammed it into his good talon. The owl let out a cry and fell back.

"Rose look out!" Rose spun around just in time to see the first owl going after her again. Then he froze, his wings slowing. Rose turned around, keeping her gaze focused on the floor. Hagson was standing in the room. Rose knew better than to look in his eyes.

The other owl either didn't know that, or it was too late. He flew straight to Hagson, who killed him. Rose gasped.

Before she could comment on him killing owls though, Courage and Pylphie landed inside. They weren't alone though. A snowy was with them. "We, uh, had some help." Courage admitted.

"Apparently your friends didn't need any of that." The snow commented. She stepped forward. "I'm Melody Plonk, and I think you four had best come with me."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The owls Rose, Courage, Pylphie, Hagson, and Melody landed in the doorway of a building. They started down the hall. There were owls mingling all around. All of them turned to see the five come in, and some of them started whispering about Hagson. Rose's hearing could pick it up no matter how softly they were talking, and considering the way Hagon's feathers were rising he heard it too.

At the end of the hall was an Other sized chair that looked an awful lot like it had once been a throne, with another snowy owl on it.

"Courage," Rose whispered, "Do you know what's going on?"

Courage gave his head a small shake. "Not really, but I think that's Dragon, the leader of this owl group." He was referring to the owl on the thrown. "That either means we've done something really good, or really bad."

Melody flapped up onto the arm of the chair. Dragon gave Melody a questioning look. She nodded. He turned to them. "So, you four are the ones who took out Shadow's army so easily."

Rose shuffled her feet shyly. "It wasn't easy!" Courage corrected. "She had to save Pylphie and I." He waved a wing at Melody.

Dragon turned to just Rose and Hagson. "So that would make you, the one who fought the owls with glass?" He asked Rose. Rose looked away slightly, and gave a nod. "That's brilliant!" Dragon complimented. "And glass is everywhere. Of course, we might have to do some training so we can use and aim the glass, but it'll give us a good edge of Shadow's army. . ." He stopped, around the time he noticed the four's baffled expressions. He cleared his throat. "And you, you can hypnotize owls by staring at them?" He looked at Hagson.

Hagson shrugged. "Yes." He mumbled.

Dragon gave an impressed nod. "You related to hagfiends by any chance? That is a power of theirs after all."

Hagson groaned. "Oh for Glaux's sake! My mother was a hagfiend! There?! You happy now?!" Pretty much every owl in the room except Pylphie and Dragon stepped back.

"Thrilled!" Dragon replied. Hagson gave a blink and looked at him in confusion as he realized Dragon wasn't being sarcastic. "No pure owl could fight like that!" He paused to calm himself down. "You are all clearly all amazing owls, smart and good at fighting. You'd make a great addition to the army."

"Wait. You want to recruit us?" Rose questioned.

"Well, yes." Dragon nodded.

Rose and Courage exchanged panicked glances. Courage might have more confidence than Rose, but he didn't really want to move Kingdoms either. "N-no. We can't." Rose breathed.

"She's right." Courage agreed. "We're leaving." He and Rose turned around and started walking away.

"So are we." Rose and Courage spun around. After the reception Dragon had given him, Rose's jaw dropped at hearing Hagson say that.

Apparently Dragon was shocked too, as he sputtered for a moment. Finally he managed to say, "You can't leave now. The sun is out, there will be crows."

Hagson just gave him a hard look. "I'm not afraid of crows."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_Rest your wings weary from fight_

_You'll be safe on this new light_

_In your sleep dreams can take flight_

_So don't be afraid to dream with all your might_

Melody was singing that song as Rose, Courage, Hagson, and Pylphie left. Apparently she sang it each morning. Considering her good singing voice, Rose wasn't surprised. The song continued beyond that, but they were getting out of hearing range by the time it did.

After a while of flying in silence Rose turned to Hagson. "So, want to tell us why you said no?"

"Come again?" Hagson wanted clarification.

He probably knew what she was talking about, but his eyes were hard to read at the moment, so Rose couldn't be sure. That's why she didn't sigh before answering. "They offered you a place in the army, and they were a lot more enthusieastic than in the Eastern Kingdom, and you said no. Why would you do that?"

"Because, they want me as a tool." Hagson growled. "I'd rather be where I'm hated."

"Really?"

Hagson smirked. "I'm full of surprises. Of course, on that front it doesn't help that I'm half hagsfiend. That part of me wanted to join anyway."

"Hagson, if you'd wanted to go, you could've. I'd have come with you." Pylphie assured him.

Hagson's eyes flashed an angry yellow. "I _didn't _want to go."

Rose meanwhile, was thinking about Pylphie's word choice. 'I'd have come with you'. _Another reason Hagson doesn't want to go, _Rose thought, _He's being nice to Pylphie._

These two were weird and hard to figure out, but together they were kind of cute.

* * *

The owls all dropped exhausted into Rose and Courage's hollow. The sun was practically setting again by the time they got back, though thanks to Hagson they'd had no problems with crows.

"How do you manage to do all that and get sleep?" Pylphie asked.

"Well, normally I don't get attacked and then get offered a place in an army." Courage pointed out.

Rose gave a grown as she saw the setting sun. "Anyone else think we shouldn't do anything tonight?" She wanted to know.

"What about our chaws?" Pylphie questioned.

"You can start the next one tomorrow, there's no real hurry." Rose replied.

Pylphie let out a breath of relief and fell back. Hagson held out a wing to catch her, and propped her back up.

Courage walked to his part of the hollow. "Good light guys."

"Good light." The other three echoed, even though it wasn't day anymore.

Then all four of them got to their own parts of the hollow and went to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Rose knocked on the side of Hetty's hollow. The owl poked her head out, and scowled when she saw them. "You." She hissed, it was directed at Hagson.

Hagson flung his wings up in the air in frustration. "Let me guess. I'm an evil freak of nature and you don't want anything to do with me?"

"Exactly." Hetty agreed whole heartedly. "And as leader of my chaw, I have the right the right to refuse you."

That one actually took Hagson by surprise. "What? But no one else-"

Hetty interrupted him. "Rose and Courage actually seem dillusional enough to like you, so of course they'd teach you about their chaw. I'm not sure why Speckle would, but I suspect he was afraid you'd kill him if you refused."

"Now look here!" Courage spat.

Pylphie laid a wing on his shoulder. "Courage, don't do this." She told him. "You don't need to."

"She's right." Hagson agreed. "I probably wouldn't be any good at healing anyway."

"Agreed." Hetty stated. "Now get. Away. From my tree!" And with that she spun around and disappeared into the hollow.

Courage growled, but the owls left. They were heading back to the hollow, ready to take another night off, when they heard voices, and not friendly ones, coming from near the lake. The four exchanged glances and headed in that direction.

The commotion was at Adan's hollow. There were two hagsfiends there. Rose felt her wings going slack. She was going yeep! Courage jabbed her. She flapped against the mild pain and was brought back into focus. She flashed a grateful smile at Courage. Courage however, looked troubled. "Hagson?"

Hagson wasn't exactly going yeep, but he didn't look so good. He dropped down onto a branch nearby. Pylphie flew don't next to it. "Hagson, relax. Breathe." She instructed. "It's okay."

Rose and Courage landed down next to the pair. Rose was about to join the conversation when a hagsfiend laughed and she and Courage turned their attention to them instead.

"And what are you going to do Adan?" The hagsfiend asked. "This is a peaceful Kingdom, you don't know the first thing about fighting." She laughed, and though Rose was angry and afraid, the hagsfiend had a point. "Besides, we're just here to talk."

Adan glared at them skeptically, wisely not making eye contact. "What do you want?" He asked.

"You have something that's ours." The female hagfiend stepped forward. She turned slightly towards Hagson. Hagson instantly looked away. "If he doesn't come back to the Northern Kingdom, we'll have to kill you." She smiled. "Farewell Adan." She and the other hagsfiend flew away.

Rose and Courage exchanged glances of worry. There was no doubt the rest of the owls in the Eastern Kingdom would want to get rid of Hagson, but Rose didn't. And she could tell from Courage's expression that he didn't want to either.

"We need to come up with a plan." Rose breathed.

Courage gave a tiny nod. "Yeah, but what?"

Rose didn't have an answer to that. As she stopped and thought about it, Hagson and Pylphie's conversation came to her ears. "Pylphie I'll go, you can stay here. I'll be back once I take care of the Northern Kingdom." Hagson was saying.

"No you won't. The owls in the in the Western Kingdoms will come after you if you use them. You're going forever or not at all." Pylphie informed him.

Courage and Rose exchanged glances. Hagson sighed. "I guess I'm staying forever then." He said.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"And so are we." Courage added.

_Wait. We are? _Rose thought.

Hagson must've thought the same thing. "Why?" He scoffed.

"Me personally, I'm tired of staying her. Nothing ever happens here. I'd rather live somewhere else. Besides, we have to make sure the Eastern Kingdom will be safe." Courage said.

Rose sighed. She nodded. "I'm going to get the Ga seeds." She smiled. "Who knows? Maybe they'll grow better outside the Kingdom."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The owls flew closer towards Dragon's home in the old Other building. They'd meet a few owls trying to stop them, clearly thinking they were invaders, but Hagson just shot out his yellow hagsfiend rays, and they dropped back down to the ground.

They reached the hole in the building and flew in. All heads turned towards them. A few owls mingling were getting ready to attack, but Hagson gave them looks of death and Dragon waved his wings to dismiss their attacks.

"Well, well Hagson." Dragon chuckled. _Hey, we're here too. _Rose thought. "I didn't expect to see you again. Why are you here?"

"I'm taking your offer."

Dragon blinked. Apparently he hadn't expected that. "Come again?"

"I'll join the useless army!" Hagson snapped, causing the owls around to puff their feathers out a bit. "You get what you wanted!" Dragon gave a slow, and nervous quite honestly, nod. Hagson sighed. "There's just one thing I want you to do," He said.

"I had a feeling so." Dragon sighed. "What is it?"

"I need your army to help fight the hagsfiends." It became completely silent in there.

Rose stepped forward. "The hagsfiends are going to kill the Eastern Kingdoms. I don't think you want the weight of an entire kingdom worth's death on you." She growled.

Dragon legitmetly seemed surprised she'd spoken up, confirming her suspicion that he was only paying attention to Hagson. Then he seemed to realize what she'd just said. He nodded. "You're right, I don't." He got up. "Very well. I'll organize a team to fight the hagfiends. In the meantime, you can all get comfortable." He flapped out of the room.

Courage turned to the owls in the room, eyebrow raised. "Isn't he going to ask any of you to fight?"

"Oh I'm sure he will." One of the owls agreed. "Just not yet. We're valuable, and he prefers using us for missions more important to the war."

"This is important! An entire Kingdom is at stake!" Hagson snapped.

"More than an entire Kingdom." Pylphie pointed out.

"Well yeah, but it has nothing to do with the war against Shadow." The owl replied with a shrug. "So it's not important to the war."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A group of owls flew through the sky, heading over the ocean. Dragon was in the front, with Hagson flying just slightly behind him. All the owls were carrying glass somehow, attached to their talons, their tail feathers, both in the smaller owls.

Soon a group of hagsfiends came into view, perched on the ice dagger. They must've seen the owls too, because they all took to the sky and headed toward the owls. "Look down! Don't let them make eye contact!" Hagson ordered. Most of the owls dropped, missing the hagsfiends' talons. Even those that didn't fought back, and the hagsfiends got a nasty surprise when their talons reached the owls' glass.

Hagson saw a familiar hagsfiend out of the corner of his eyes. And it wasn't just any hagsfiend, it was one of the ones who'd gone to the Eastern Kingdom, and his mom. Hagson swerved away before she could see him. He went looking around for an unfamiliar face. He found it in a slightly younger hagsfiend who'd probably still been a baby when Hagson lived with them. _Sorry new guy. _Hagson thought. _But this isn't going to be your night._

Hagson flapped p as hard as he could, shooting past the young hagsfiend and tearing at his stomach as he went. Then the hagsfiend grabbed his tail, and yanked him back down by it. He clawed at Hagson's face, getting his eye. And the problem was, Hagson was used to fighting owls, where he had a size and hypnotizim advantage. Here he didn't have either, in fact they were weaknesses.

_But you have owl strengths too. _He thought. _Your dad said so, and he was a lot better than mom. _But what was a strength owls had hagsfiends didn't.

The hagsfiend hissed and flew towards his head again. Hagson didn't have a plan of attack yet, so he just dodged out of the way. It took the hagsfiend a while to correct his flight, turning around to face Hagson.

_That's it! Owls are more flexible fliers! _Hagson thought. His new excitement quickly turned to dread as he realized how he'd probably have to use that. The hagsfiend was flying towards him. Hagson gulped. He really didn't want to do this, and the fear was making him go yeep. _Well if you're going to go down, you might as well make it intentional. _He thought to himself irritably.

Hagson quickly curved and dove down, towards the ocean. The hagsfiend, not knowing the danger yet, flapped after him. Hagson gulped at the water got closer. He couldn't pull up, not yet. _You're going to drown! _He thought. And that's when he swung his wings out and arched away from the water, breathing with relief the farther away he got. And he'd waited long enough. The hagsfiend tried to pull up too, but water splashed onto his wings and he fell into the water below.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rose flew around, mostly avoiding battle, but she was starting to feel guilty doing nothing. That's when she saw a hagsfiend attacking Pylphie, who was having a seriously hard time defending herself.

Rose gripped the glass in her talons tighter, and that's when she realized the hagsfiend wouldn't be paying attention to her. Even if she was a terrible fighter she could attack. Rose flung a piece of glass. It hit the hagsfiend and he let out a scream. Rose flung another one and it hit him. She threw a third. The hagsfiend dodged it. Rose got took aim with her last one.

"Rose no!" Pylphie warned.

Rose tossed the glass anyway. The hagsfiend caught it without cutting himself. Then he dropped it towards the ocean. That was when Rose realized the problem Pylphie had already seen. She had no glass left, and there was no way to get her supply back.

The hagsfiend smirked and his eyes started to glow yellow. Rose quickly looked away. But without looking directly at him, it was hard to see his movements, and Rose didn't have time to react when the hagsfiend charged into her. It shoved her back, stabbing her with his talons as he did so. Rose shot backwards, and it would've fallen into the ocean if she hadn't hit the ice dagger first. Rose grabbed the ice to keep from going any further down.

The hagsfiend slammed into her again, clawing at her. Rose did her best to dodge, and succeeded a few times, making his send ice chunks everywhere. He had her pinned in place though, there were only so many places she could shift, he got her more times than missed. The only reason she wasn't dead was because she was blocking the vital parts of her body with her wings.

Suddenly the hagsfiend started chocking. He fell back, and Rose could see Hagson yank one of the ice chunks he'd knocked off out of him, blood on it. Hagson and Rose panted as they watched the hagsfiend plummet into the water.

For a moment they were both silent, then Hagson spoke up. He gave a grin. "It's amazing how many of these small clear shards are dangerous." He joked, talking about the glass and ice.

Rose managed to smile back. "Thanks Hagson." She said.

Their silence was broken again when another hagsfiend flew towards them. "Hagson! Look out!" Rose warned. He managed to fly out of the way, and Rose leapt to the side, taking to the sky.

The hagsfiend got their talons stuck in the ice. Hagson ripped his neck, blood hitting the ice. Rose tried not to be sick.

(Only two or three chapters after this one.)


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Dragon stood above Hagson's mom, glaring down at her, for she had face planted into the ice of the Ice Dagger. The rest of the owls hung back on Dragon's side, not that many had survived, in fact it was pretty much only Rose, Courage, Hagson, and Pylphie. All the surviving hagsfiends had already fled. Hagon's mom looked around at them, each of them looked away to avoid being hypnotized. Hagson was the only one who knew there wasn't any need to worry.

His mom wouldn't attack when she was the only one left. She'd flee and come back with even stronger forces. He'd probably have to tell Dragon about that later.

His mom laughed. "Very impressive Dragon. Now, are you going to kill me?"

"Are you going to stop me?" Dragon asked.

"Most certainly, and if I fail the other hagsfiends will come after you."

_Liar! _Hagson thought. Dragon didn't know that though, as was clear from his hesitant expression.

"But, if you leave now, I'll make sure they don't attack any of you." She glared at Hagson. "Even my pathetic excuse for a son." She shook her head with a sad smile. "You could've been great, but now you'll be forgotten in the history of both owls and hagsfiends. The Western Kingdom fights themselves to death, you won't matter to them."

"You wrong!" Dragon argued.

Hagson nodded. "You're a liar, and you lied to Dragon." He turned to Dragon. "If you let her live," He paused. He wasn't sure if he could get his mom killed. _Yes you can. _He realized. He let his hagsfiend part take over. "she'll just send more hagsfiends after us." Then he looked away as Dragon charged forward.

A few moments Dragon shouted, "And don't come back!"

Hagson looked up in surprise. "You're letting her go?"

"I don't have much choice." Dragon growled. "I can't follow her or we'll reach the Ice Talons." The owls exchanged nervous glances, everyone knew the Ice Talons were where the hagsfiends lived.

Dragon turned away and flapped past them all. "Come on, let's get back."

* * *

The owls knew something was wrong before they entered the old Other building. It was too quiet. Rose and Courage in particular could tell there should be noise of mingling, talking owls. That's why they entered with caution, but nothing they figured out could've prepared them for what had actually happened.

All the owls in the room were dead. At first glance it was the owls who were always there, but there were also some owls who were unrecognizable. Shadow's owls. And there, sitting on Dragon's thrown, was Shadow, his talons up against Melody's neck.

"Dragon, I was wondering when you'd get back." Shadow said.

"Shadow." Dragon breathed. "What have you done?!"

"Well it's very obvious. When I found out you'd be gone I planned an attack, and we won." Shadow explained.

"Won?!" Pylphie cried. "All your owls are dead!"

Shadow grinned. "Not quite." A boobook owl and a cuckoo owl came out. "Now don't move." Shadow ordered, pressing his talons harder against Melody, "Or I kill her too."

"Rose, Courage." Hagson breathed at a voice too low for anyone else to hear. "Attack them. I'll hypnotize Shadow."

So when the boobook and cuckoo owl launched out, Rose and Courage did so too. "No don't!" Dragon objected.

Shadow tried to kill Melody, but Hagson hypnotized him. Dragon, taking only a few moments to realize what had happened, charged forward and killed Shadow.

_Some victory. _Hagson thought. _There are only 8 of us left._


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

(Yes, there really is an owl called the cuckoo owl, and the boobook owl.)

"Please! Please don't kill us!" the boobook owl begged.

Hagson scoffed at how pathetic he was acting. Rose gave him a glare, but it seemed Dragon agreed with him more than Rose. "Why should we spare you, you spared no one!"

"It's not our fault!" The boobook objected.

"Shadow was going to kill our families if we didn't do it." The cuckoo added. "You should understand that."

Dragon gave a pause. Then he growled. "There's a difference!" He leapt into the air, talons raised.

"Dragon no!" Melody objected. She flew between them. "The battle's over. Just, just leave them alone."

Dragon's eyes softened as he lightly landed. There was a silence.

Rose looked at Courage, Hagson, and Pylphie. "Well, we can go back to the Eastern Kingdom now." She said.

"Can we come with you?" Melody asked. When everyone started at her she shrugged and added, "We can't exactly stay here."

Rose nodded sympathetically. "Of course, we always have room."

So the 6 owls headed for exit. "Um, w-what are we supposed to do." The boobook wanted to know.

"Whatever you want." Dragon replied coldly. "See you in Hagsmire." Then they all flew out, leaving the boobook and cuckoo owls as the only two left in all of the Western Kingdom.

* * *

"Well, where's the Kingdom?" Dragon asked, completely oblivious to the problem.

"I-it's supposed to be here." Rose whimpered.

Dragon blinked. "What?"

"It's gone." Courage breathed. All that was where the Kingdom used to be, was water. Rose started crying.

"No!" Pylphie shouted. "I-I'm so sorry." She told the two.

"Now you know how I feel." Dragon muttered. The others turned to him. He shrugged. "Sorry."

There was a long moment as all the owls mourned the owls they'd lost. Hagson was the one to break it. "Where do we go now?" He asked.

At first it seemed like no one had an answer to that. Turns out Courage did. "There was an island in the ocean, we could go there." Since no one had a better suggestion, it was probably the closest land to here, that's where they went.

It was there Rose realized she still had her bag of Ga seeds. And they were in fact the last Ga seeds anywhere in the Kingdoms now. She looked at the ground. _Well, I guess here would be as good as any to plant one. _She dug a little hole and planted a seed. Maybe it would actually grow unlike the other failures.

This one wasn't a failure. In fact, it would become the most famous of the Ga trees, the Great Ga'Hoole Tree.


End file.
